Claims
- 1. A conveyor system for transporting articles, in particular for transporting containers holding baggage pieces, comprising:
at least two sequentially arranged endless conveyor belts to define an upstream conveyor belt and a downstream conveyor belt for transport of articles in a transport direction from the upstream conveyor belt to the downstream conveyor belt; a drive unit having a first drive motor operatively connected to the upstream conveyor belt and a second drive motor operatively connected to the downstream conveyor belt; and a control unit for regulating a rotation speed of the first drive motor in dependence on a weight determination commensurate with a presence or absence of articles positioned on the upstream conveyor belt, and for regulating a rotation speed of the second drive motor in dependence on a weight determination commensurate with a presence or absence of articles positioned on the downstream conveyor belt.
- 2. The conveyor system of claim 1, wherein the weight determination is based on a quantity of articles located on the conveyor belts.
- 3. The conveyor system of claim 1, wherein the weight determination is based on a sum of individual weights of the articles.
- 4. The conveyor system of claim 2, wherein the weight determination is implemented by multiplying the quantity of the articles with an average weight of the articles.
- 5. The conveyor system of claim 1, wherein the control unit compensates a decrease in rotation speed in response to an increase in weight of the articles on the conveyor belts through an increase of a desired rotation speed of the associated drive motor.
- 6. The conveyor system of claim 5, and further comprising a frequency converter receiving an output signal from the control unit and controlling the drive motor, wherein the desired rotation speed is adjusted by changing a frequency of the frequency converter and/or a supply voltage of the drive motor.
- 7. The conveyor system of claim 5, wherein the drive motor is an unregulated asynchronous motor.
- 8. The conveyor system of claim 1, wherein the conveyor belts form a storage unit for the articles.
- 9. A method for controlling a conveyor system for transporting articles, in particular for transporting a container holding baggage pieces, with at least two sequentially arranged endless conveyor belts to define an upstream conveyor belt and a downstream conveyor belt for transport of articles in a transport direction from the upstream conveyor belt to the downstream conveyor belt, comprising the steps of:
driving each conveyor belt with a drive motor having a rotation speed that depends on a load torque, determining a weight of the articles located on the conveyor belts, and controlling a rotation speed of the drive motors in dependence on the weight of articles positioned on the conveyor belts.
- 10. The method of claim 9, wherein the weight of the articles is determined based on a quantity of the articles located on the conveyor belts.
- 11. The method of claim 9, wherein the weight of the articles is determined from a sum of individual weights of the articles.
- 12. The method of claim 10, wherein the weight of the articles is determined by multiplying the quantity of the articles with an average weight of the articles.
- 13. The method of claim 9, wherein the controlling step includes increasing a desired rotation speed of a drive motor when the weight of the articles located on the conveyor belt associated with the drive motor increases, so as to compensate for a decrease in an actual rotation speed in response to an increase in weight on the conveyor belts.
- 14. The method of claim 13, wherein the controlling step includes adjusting a frequency and/or a supply voltage of the drive motor.
- 15. The method of claim 9, wherein the drive motor is an unregulated asynchronous motor.
- 16. The method of claim 9, and further comprising the step of transferring the articles transported on the downstream conveyor belt back to the upstream conveyor belt so as to form a storage unit for the articles.
Priority Claims (1)
Number |
Date |
Country |
Kind |
102 57 466.9 |
Dec 2002 |
DE |
|
CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application claims the priority of German Patent Application, Serial No. 102 57 466.9, filed Dec. 9, 2002, pursuant to 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d), the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.